Burning Fire
by Fire and Sand
Summary: Right after Orochimaru’s reunion with Tsunade at that castle and Jiraiya’s interference, Orochimaru thinks about the past and contemplates what he should do about Tsunade’s becoming Hokage. Slight OrochiTsunade. Oneshot


Fire: Orochimaru's one of my favourite characters, so I can't resist getting into his head. And this is what I got. A little pitiful but I can see it happening, can't you?

Sasuke: Just another stupid oneshot.

Fire: Urusai!

Orochimaru: …

Tsunade: Who gave you permission to think about me! (attempts to hit Orochimaru but smashes her fist through the wall even though Orochimaru hadn't moved)

Fire: O.o (sweats) Uh…my wall…

Orochimaru: (smiles) Tsunade can never hit me.

Sasuke: (mumbling under his breath) And you can never hit her on purpose. Hn! Old people…

Jiraiya: (crying) And why am I always the third wheel?

Tsunade and Orochimaru: (shouting simultaneously) Urusai, baka! (both hit Jiraiya hard on the head)

Jiraiya: Ugh… (sinks to the ground)

Fire: Um…on with the story?

Sasuke: Good idea.

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Warning: Some OrochiTsunade if you choose to see it.

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Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei and all I have is lousy Naruto stock. :( Someone kill me now. (Sasuke holds up a kunai) Not literally!

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**Burning Fire**

**A Fire Project**

**Oneshot**

**O**rochimaru never hated Tsunade. Sure, she had always opposed him in all his goals… She was an interesting girl with selfish desires, an intelligent teenager with worldly ideas, and then an annoying woman with maternal goals. And now that she was Hokage…he had to destroy her.

How he loved to hate her…

How he hated to love her…

He didn't know which it was anymore. His useless arms lay bleeding at his sides and he could only wonder what it would have happened if Jiraiya wasn't there to stop her. She would have come back to him, wouldn't she?

That day at the castle, he had seen the desire in her eyes as she stood across from him. He didn't even have to mention Dan or Nawaki…but he had and did. She would never have admitted that she wanted to come to him. She had more pride than that.

The baka! Jiraiya with his righteous thoughts…he was always standing in his way! Orochimaru knew that he should have killed him when he had the chance…and he has had many over his lifetime. He actually did hate Jiraiya…almost as much as he hated Konoha.

There was a very good reason why he hated Konoha…but there was more to it than everyone thought. The petty reason was that he wasn't chosen to be Yondaime Hokage.

Godaime… The title that Tsunade now held… Tsunade had once asked him to wait for that same title.

But he had had his heart set on being Yondaime…because he had wanted his sensei to say that he was good enough to lead the village, because it only mattered if Sarutobi-sensei said it.

Looking back, Orochimaru knew that Tsunade was right. He should have been more forgiving. He wasn't a child, and he didn't hold grudges. In fact, back then, he was a very forgiving, kind young man. He knew that he really wasn't ready to be Hokage at that time…but Sarutobi's words were what had really annoyed him, were what had sealed his mind against the Leaf forever.

His sensei had never had the intention of considering him for the role of Hokage in the first place. That was what had angered him. That was what made him hate them.

But he could never have told Tsunade that.

She had never doubted that he could achieve his dream.

The blond young woman who had stood at his side with all the genuine passion of healing the people of Konoha with her medicine would never have understood the hatred that he had felt…just as she didn't understand it now. Her beauty was matched only by her stupidity. Beneath that dense mind was the naively caring heart that had made him want her at his side once more.

It wasn't just about the arms.

And that heart was what stopped her from returning to him. She had chosen to side with the baka, Jiraiya.

He could remember a time when that wouldn't have happened, when Tsunade would have come to him no matter what he said.

He wanted to be that man again.

But he had chosen, and he was too stubborn to change his mind now. When his new body comes, he would destroy Konoha.

The only problem was whether or not he could destroy her.

**Owari**

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Moral of the story:

Painful regrets. Events of the past shape the present, especially in the course of a person's life. No matter how small the misunderstandings, the unchangeable troubles of the future can still grow from those small seeds. No matter how much you may regret those actions, the past cannot be changed. Only in the present can you shape the future.

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Fire's babbling:

Fire: Burning Fire…get it? Get it?

Sasuke: (staring at Fire) Burning yourself?

Fire: (slightly annoyed) I know you get it.

Sasuke: (shaking his head slowly) This has something to do with Hokage-sama, doesn't it?

Fire: How did you know?

Sasuke: I'm not Naruto. (sighing inwardly) What's with you and double connotations?

Fire: They're fun! Fire as in Tsunade. Fire as in intense Fire as in all consuming. Burning as in hatred. Burning as in love. Burning as in unstoppable. Burning as in permanent. I love double connotations!

Sasuke: (sweats) You're crazy.

Fire: Anyway, like I said…a oneshot. Don't expect too much out of this one. If you want to read an OrochiTsunade—because I know that there isn't any out there at the moment. I'm the only one crazy enough to attempt one, and I'm not kidding because I have searched for them—there's currently one in the process. Check my profile to see if it has been loaded.

Sasuke: Stop bossing the readers around!

Fire: You're just irritated because you're not in this one!

Sasuke: …

Fire: Egoistic bastard.

Sasuke: (eyes go sharingan) …

Fire: Review! See you next time! (runs laughingly away from Sasuke)

Sasuke: (runs after Fire with the beginnings of a chidori) Get back here!

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